Washington Nationals: Time to end the Mark Reynolds Cinderella story

Mark Reynolds was lightning in a bottle when he first joined the Washington Nationals. But now, it could be time to move the veteran on from the roster.

When veteran infielder Mark Reynolds made his Washington Nationals debut, he looked like a Cinderella story. However, now it looks like the clock has hit midnight, and it may be time to let him go.

In his first 12 games with the big league club, Reynolds slashed .432/.475/.946 in a sensational streak. However since then, he’s merely slashing .208/.322/.385, and that includes his historic 5 for 5 night against the Miami Marlins.

Aside from a two-year spell with the Colorado Rockies, and the added benefit of Coors Field, the latter line isn’t too far from his career numbers. His career slash before the 2016 season was .230/.324/.452 and is probably what should be expected of him for the Nats.

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Reynolds has always been a boom or bust type player with a lot of strikeouts. He’s led the major leagues in strikeouts three times but can hit a long ball at any time as he sits 13th on the active home run chart.

Now, for most teams, he would be a perfectly fine bench bat with the potential to hit a bomb and play some first base. But with the Nationals, he’s unlikely to get a look in at any point in the near future, barring an injury.

Matt Adams has been one of the Nats most valuable players all season, and now Ryan Zimmerman has returned swinging a red-hot bat. This has meant that Reynolds has yet to see a start at first base since the All-Star break.

The only games he’s started since the mid-summer classic came at third base when Anthony Rendon was on paternity leave. That’s not a viable spot for Reynolds to draw starts. In his career, he has a negative 58 Defensive Runs Saved at the hot corner and has never had a positive DRS season there.

So if he’s not getting plate appearances in favor of the more complete hitters Adams and Zimmerman, and can only realistically be defensively serviceable at one position, there really is little point in keeping him on the active roster.

If Reynolds were to depart then there are a few options that could help contribute depending on the need they would rather fill in his absence.

If they want an infielder who can be more versatile then Matt Reynolds, who can play much better defense across the board, could be the choice.

They could also go back to an eight-man bullpen by bringing up Tim Collins, Koda Glover or any of the other members of the impressive collection of Triple-A relievers. With Tommy Milone and Jeremy Hellickson struggling to go deep into games, and Gio Gonzalez struggling, an extra reliever could invaluable.

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Mark Reynolds can certainly still do a job as a bit-part player in the major leagues. It’s just an unfortunate case with the Washington Nationals that the areas he can contribute, the Nats have in abundance, making him expendable.

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